Scars and All, O.C.’s Heavenly : Space Image From JPL Is Offered Online

Through the miracles of space travel and online computer wizardry, a heavenly view of Orange County is now only a few keystrokes away.

But, as with so many things, the picture Friday wasn’t perfect--at least initially.

A stunning radar-imaging snapshot of the county taken from the space shuttle Endeavor graced the World Wide Web site of the Pasadena-based Jet Propulsion Laboratory, providing a new perspective on a familiar place.

But the same scientific minds that engineered the outer-space-to-cyberspace transfer fumbled when it came to Orange County’s most famous landmark--an annotated version of the photo put Disneyland squarely in the city of Orange.

“Really? Well . . . we can fix that,” JPL spokeswoman Mary Hardin said. “It’ll be corrected today.” Indeed, by evening, Disneyland was back in Anaheim on the map.

Despite the initial lapse, the image is fascinating.

The snapshot was taken Oct. 3, 1994, with a Spaceborne Imaging Radar system that uses radar and microwaves to form a colorful image, Hardin said.

Clearly visible are the rugged, purple Santa Ana Mountains, the shimmering white reflection of urban areas and even dark, barren scars left by the Laguna and Ortega wildfires of October 1993.

The web site is at https://www.jpl.nasa.gov and the photo can be found under the News Flashes heading in the Orange County category.

Hardin said the photo will be online indefinitely.